HOUSTON, April 6, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) ("Whitestone") announced today a $6.3 million acquisition of City View Village in San Antonio, Texas, which is strategically located across from The Strand of Huebner Oaks acquired by Whitestone last year. This acquisition is the third Community Centered PropertyTM in the San Antonio market and highlights Whitestone's commitment to expand its portfolio in core markets and focus on local, serviced-based tenants catering to the surrounding neighborhoods.
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City View Village is a Class-A, neighborhood community center, with 17,870 square feet of leasable space, located near the busy intersection of IH-10 and Huebner Road. The intersection is the major ingress/egress traffic artery connecting the northwest suburbs to the nearby employment and education hubs including South Texas Medical Center (28,000 employees), USAA (17,000 employees) and University of Texas at San Antonio (31,000 students). City View Village and its service-based tenants serve the densely populated, affluent surrounding neighborhood of approximately 55,000 households with an average household income of over $88,000.
The tenants of City View Village exemplify Whitestone's business model and the center features national as well as regional and family-oriented service-based tenants, including Panda Express, Freebirds World Burrito, Palm Beach Tan, Papouli's Greek Grill, Jimmy John's, Victoria's Nails Salon, Big Hops Growler Station, and Fatboy Burgers and Dogs. The center is 100% leased.
James C. Mastandrea, Whitestone's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "City View Village is our third property in San Antonio, Texas, giving us approximately 300,000 square feet and enhancing our presence in one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, with high barriers of entry for new developments. It fits our business model perfectly, and its 100% occupancy is immediately accretive to earnings, provides cash flow, NOI, FFO and upside from the synergies created by its close proximity to The Strand, a property acquired by Whitestone in 2014."
Mastandrea added, "The proximity to The Strand allows us to have full control of the retail space within the intersection of Huebner Road and Huebner Oaks, which is a gateway to high income neighborhoods east of IH-10."
Mastandrea concluded, "We continue to source acquisitions from our substantial pipeline of value-add properties located in high growth markets. City View Village was another 'off-market' transaction closed by Whitestone and will add to our overall enterprise value."
